Electric steaming apparatus



May 7, 1935. 1.. E. WHITE 2,000,628

ELECTRIC STEAMING APPARATUS Filed July 16, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F I6.I.

INVENTOR.

LEWIS E. WH l T E ATTORNEY.

y 1935- 1.. E. WHITE 2,000,628

ELECTRI C STEAMING APPARATUS Filed July 16, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2.

INVENTOR.

' 2 LEWIS E. WHITE BY A TTORNE Y.

Patented May 7, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC STEAMINGAPPARATUS Lewis E. White, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Harry L.Worthington, San Francisco, Calif.

Application July 16, 1932, Serial No. 622,875

4 Claims. (Cl. 21940) This invention relates to improvements in e1ec-.the bottom 6, within the flange 4 to form an intric steaming apparatus.tegral water pan. This pan should be formed of One object of theinvention is to provide a hat hard rubber or other suitable dielectriccomposteaming apparatus in which water may be elecsition. It has aconcentric bead I at the central 5 trically converted into hot, wet,steam for renoportion to concentrate the water beneath the 5 vatinghats. heating element.

Another object is to reduce the size, cost of The transverse strut II,also of dielectric maproductiomand operation of apparatus forsteamterial, extends across and is attached to the casing ing hats. bythe screws I2-I2. It rests upon the top of the A further object is toproduce a hat steamer flange 4 and has a center lug, extending below 10that is light, portable, simple, safe, easily cleaned this flange intothe pan to support the heating and maintained, and that may be operatedfrom element. the ordinary lamp circuits" and without water The heatingelement is preferably composed of connections. a suitable carboncomposition molded and pressed Other objects and advantages will appearas in the form of interlocking grids, see Fig. 2. The 15 the descriptionprogresses. heads I3, I l have the parallel grids I5, I6, re-

In this specification and the accompanying spectively, extendingtherefrom,-in spaced reladrawings the invention is disclosed in apreferred tion. The heads are fixed on the insulating strut form. It isto be understood, however, that it is II, by the bolts Il-II and I8-I8,respective y,

not limited to this form because it may be empassing therethrough andengaging the lock nuts 20 bodied in other forms within the spirit of theinon t ir Opp site ends. The P Of upper bolts vention as defined in theclaims following the de- III'I are pulled up by the lock nuts I9-I9.scription. The extended ends of these bolts have the nuts It has beenthe practice heretofore, in renovat- 20-40 thereon and serve as bindingposts for. the mg hats, to utilize steam generated under presterminalwires 2I-2l of the cord 22 of the power 25 sure in boilers or steamgenerators. Such steam, circuit. This cord has the conventional p u 23when liberated, is too dry at first, for the purpose thereon W h i l t dCo t engage S and steam is wasted until it becomes sufilciently lContacts in the Socket 4 Wired through 2I- wet. Such equipment isnecessarily permanently 2 to t h s respectively- The PP installed as towater and gas fuel, is subject to site end of the cord 22 has a suitableplug, not rapid deterioration, and must be kept constantly shown, toengage a Socket in the Power linein commission even when usedintermittently, The grids are preferably composed of a com- The odors,leakage, heat, and other disadvantages position of carbon and graphiteknown in the of pressure steam generators are sufiiciently trade as of ahardness of 60, which offers about known. .0011 ohms resistance at 55amperes on the usual 35 In the accompanying two sheets of drawings: 110volt circuit of alternating current. For direct Fig. 1 is a. verticalsection, taken on the line current a hardness of 50 and .00105 ohmsresist- II, Fig. 2, of a hat steamer embodying this inance is preferablefor the same voltage and amvention. perage. For A. C. an arrangement ofsix and five Fig. 2 is a plan view from below of the bottom g id plates|5|5 0n the heads p 40 of the same, with the water pan removed. tively,gives best results. For D. C. a symmetri- In detail the constructionillustrated in the cal arrangement of an equal number of grid platesdrawings, referring to Fig. 1, comprises the en- I5, I6 on the heads I3,I4, such as five or six closing casing I, open at the top, and havingthe plates on each head, gives best results. These annular bottom 2 witha central opening 3, surarrangements are merely suggestive and have 45rounded by the upturned flange 4. The casing been proved in practice,and are not to be undermay be supported upon an ornamental annular stoodas in any way limiting this invention, since base or upon the legs 5-5,as shown. they may be varied to meet difierent sizes and The bottomopening is closed by the overlapcapacities desired in adapting thisinvention to ping pan 6, the margin of which is secured to special uses.50

the bottom 2 by the screws I, the heads of which These grids I5, I6 mayrest upon or only apare soldered to the bottom to prevent leakage ofproximately contact with the bead I0 in the water splashed water and tohold the screws while the pan. knurled nuts 8 are screwed on to hold thebottom The flat circular water reservoir 25 is centrally 6. The annularflange 9 extends upward from suspended in the casing I above the heatingele- 55 ment, by the interposed spiders 2626. It has the removableflanged cover 21, having the handle 28. Such a reservoir of about onequart capacity will serve the apparatus for about one day of operation.

The needle valve 29 is sealed in the bottom of the reservoir, and hasthe stem 30 projecting through the wall of the casing and provided withthe dielectric handle 3|. The valve discharges the contents of thereservoir through the neck 32 terminating adjacent, but out of contactwith, the lower edge of the head 13 intermediate its length.

This apparatus operates substantially as follows: Assuming the reservoir25 to contain water, the plug 23 is inserted in the socket 24. Thecircuit is still open due to the interspacing of the grids l5, H3. Thehandle 3| is now given several complete turns to open the valve, whichis immediately closed again. This feeds about a teaspoon full of waterthrough the neck 32 against the head i3. Capillary attraction leads thewater under the head and between the adjacent grids l5, IS. The watercloses the circuit and current flowing through the resistant gridsrapidly heats them and almost immediately converts the water into wetsteam. The rise of the steam pulls the water up between the grids,rendering practically their whole areas active in vaporizing the water.Very little water ever reaches the center of the pan 6. The bead It] hasan opening l opposite the neck 32 so that any surplus water will be ledwithin the bead at the center of the pan. The bottom of the pan isslightly conical so that the Water will collect in a ring'adjacent thebead Hi and be distributed to all the grids l 5, IS.

The reservoir 25 acts as a battle in the path of the rising steam, whichis diverted to the annular space 33 between the edge of the reservoirand the adjacent casing, flows over the top of the reservoir and fillsthe upper portion of the casing. The cold water in the reservoirprobably has the effect of reducing the temperature and maintaining thesaturated quality of the steam.

The hat to be steamed is held crown downward above the top of the casingso that its whole outer surface is subjected to the heat and moisture ofthe rising steam. The heat softens the sizing in the hat and themoisture affects the nap to facilitate the blocking and refinishingoperations. The steaming requires only about five or six seconds oftime, after which the operator is free to devote both his hands and allhis efforts to the hat. The apparatus needs no attention because theevaporation of the small quantity of water automatically opens thecircuit and stops current consumption.

The heating element contains about 3| square inches of heating surfacefor the present purpose. If a continuous volume of steam is desired thevalve 29 can be regulated accordingly.

When desired the whole interior of the apparatus can be scalded cleanand inverted to drain. The heating element is easily accessible by removing the pan 6, and can be cleaned by flowing boiling watertherethrough from a faucet. The quality of carbon resistance suggestedshows no disposition to disintegrate or accumulate films of deposit fromthe water. It is advisable to reverse the plug 23 in the soclset 24 onD. C. to reverse the polarity occasionally. In an active hat renovatingshop the present apparatus will not consume current in excess of twodollars per month at popular rates.

Another use for this apparatus is to form disinfecting vapors byintroducing medicaments into the liquid in the reservoir. The size ofthe apparatus could be reduced or enlarged accordingly.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. A steaming apparatus including a casing; a dielectric water pan insaid casing; a pair of electrodes consisting of a plurality of gridshorizontally spaced from each other and in juxtaposition to said waterpan; an annular bead on said water pan beneath said electrodes; andmeans for introducing water into said pan around said bead.

2. A steaming apparatus including a casing; a dielectric water pan insaid casing having a slightly conical area thereon surrounded by anannular bead having an opening therein; a pair of electrodes consistingof a plurality of grids horizontally spaced from each other and injuxtaposition to said water pan above said bead; and a water outletopposite the opening in said bead.

3. A steaming apparatus including a casing: a dielectric water pan insaid casing; means for introducing water into said pan; and a pair ofelectrodes consisting of a plurality of horizontally interspaced gridsextending across said water pan and spaced therefrom but sufiicientlyclose thereto to induce a capillary flow of the water therein.

4. A hat steaming apparatus including a closed casing open at the topend thereof; a dielectric water pan at the bottom of said casing; a pairof horizontally interspaced electrodes mounted above said pan; a waterreservoir above said element and spaced from the sides of the casing andlocated at a distance below the top of said casing to permit the entryof the crown of a hat therein; and means for feeding water from saidreservoir to said pan.

LEWIS E. WHITE.

